Aprilaire 800 odor + taking forever

3 years ago

I got an Aprilaire 800 beginning of Feb from & installed by HVAC comp. The owner (master HVAC 30+ yrs) was supposed to do it but was on another job. The guy who did has been in the businesses for 20 some years, hadn't put one of these in for a long time, he kept looking at install manual. Owner stopped by at the end to check everything over. The thing ran for 3 days & humidity went from 25 to 17. He shut off my hot water tank & I didnt realize it so no hot water over weekend. I turned it down to 1 (to quit running) & the next day my humidity was UP to 26. Owner came made adjustment & same thing. Says it needs 72 hrs to get humidity to correct level. So for a month now & seeing him about 6 times now, banging noises, smell, etc he has changed a pin, said my water was to clean & got a different canister (with salt), humidifier & furnace blew the electric - so had no heat thru the night. I googled & found noise was water hammer & the other the furnace flexing from temp change of steam going thru. He had insisted none of this was caused by his work/ install, just that i had never noticed it before!! ( he did do adjustments to resolve) He said he sells these all the time & had one himself., which now I don't believe cause he appears clueless as this is still not working properly. I think he just wanted the $$. If he sells/installs so many then he should have known about the water in " my area" being to clean. I told him just remove it & install a new one " can't Aprilaire makes me get on phone with them & trouble shoot can't just get a new one". After running over 24hrs (& past 2 days a lot of rain) it shows 19% ( down from 22 yesterday). He mentioned something about switching the amp from 15 to 20 in panel box. My 3 story townhouse is 9 yrs old, 2420 sq ft & voltage for Aprilaire is running off 110v, ( he said is fine), to install the 240 would mean $$$ , hiring an electrician & tearing up ceiling & re drywall+ paint etc 40' from furnace room to breaker panel. When it runs after an hour, the black hose w/steam to furnace gets hot, & after 2 hrs shuts off - which is correct, then hose cools down.

The smell from this is bad, its an odor of sauerkraut, old dirty socks,& last nite I smelled an added smell of rubber/oil chemical . Not good, its ran enough I would think at this point the smell should be burned off? If this is the norm for anyone please advise!!! I don't want to breath this & its probably toxic for my pets. I'm already a month in with this, if its an ongoing smell & before it gets to late I want to return.

I'm questioning his ability for this product, & overall knowledge period. When he became defensive about noises that he didn't "cause" , then I suggested water hammer, he made adjustments to fix' , so that was the problem- probably not enough water flowing to machine now lol! I read this can work off 110amp but don't know if it is enough for my house (3 story th, 2420 sq', 9 yrs old), I certainly do not want to spend another $1000+ for electrician & drywall repairs to put in 220 or 240amp (forgot). I live in the nations richest county Loudoun Va(not by choice- nor am i rich) so when I say $1k, that's probably low.

Although he's willing to make it right, the constant visits, the smell, etc. is annoying. I'm scared what my electric bill will be, I think this unit is defective, but more so needs the higher voltage. If there is such a thing as returning it for full refund after 30 days, I'm now at 26 days with "trying" to get it to work. If I can return, then I'll have holes left all over furnace walls, He says he can't get a new unit, Aprilaire makes them do this. The next fix would be replace the electrical board & continue from there. I don't want to proceed by deconstructing & rebuilding the thing. It was $1200, it should work, if not after trying a few things replace it. Summer is close, so it will be shut off & then, in fall I have to play this again? (sorry venting now)

Any suggestions?

Is this normal - 3 days to get house humidity up? (its never even got to 35%)

Smell?

Running constantly gonna burn out my blower?

No exchange for a new machine?

Is there a better humidifier?

Is electric voltage the true problem & I'll just use a boatload $$$ of electric to get this to work?

Is there a better steam heat whole house humidifier that is out there? ( without requiring the higher electric amps)

Thank you for any help!

Comment

Related Discussions
Do your vet bills scare you?
Q
Comments (55)
How about a different perspective? I'm the vet. As far as PetMeds, they are NOT a reputable company. They routinely ignore refusals by doctors to not renew medications, they routinely give Rx without seeing a pet without even having an Rx from a doctor, they routinely are in trouble with the law on these issues. And the hospital where I work is cheaper anyway. Plus, with Walmart offering generic Rx for $4/month if there is a way your pet can benefit from one on the list, ask the vet for the written Rx. We don't charge an Rx fee for any pet seen and diagnosed by our hospital. And since you can get many antibiotics and chronic meds for less there, why not? Fosters and Smith is reputable- they have never been in legal trouble and we have been very happy with them. A lot of veterinary practices rely way too heavily on diagnostics, but I don't think it is the vets' fault. In this age of litigation, we are all guilty of practicing CYA medicine somewhat. Yes, I can see petechia on the patient so I know her platelets are way too low, and she's pale and her heart rate is up so I know she is anemic, but if I don't run a CBC to prove it and patient dies and owner sues for malpractice, I'm pretty much stuck with lawyer bills, missed work, paying expert consultants, and in danger of losing my ability to practice which means I have $100,000 in school loans and no way to pay them off. So guess what? I run the CBC, even though I won't learn anything or do anything different based on the results. You have a right to refuse anything your vet recommends. You have a right to know what the vet is hoping to learn from the results of any test, and what will change in the treatment of the patient based on those tests. If your vet can't explain the answers to those questions satisfactorily, then refuse the tests. I will say that even in my healthy dogs, I run CBC, chem, and UA once a year; twice a year when they get older (above 7 since my dogs are large breeds). I'd add a T4 in a cat above 10 years. Pets can't say my liver doesn't feel quite right, or I'm always a little dehydrated because my kidneys don't work that well anymore, etc. And they hide symptoms until something outright FAILS, at which point it's a losing battle. Caught early, there are many things one can do for a cat with renal disease, or a dog with liver disease, but once they start showing symptoms, the disease is so advanced you are unlikely to provide any increase in quality or quantity of life. However you still have a right to refuse to do that testing if you don't want to and understand the value of annual or semi-annual testing. We can do a lot more for our pets now than ever before. Used the be unusual for a cat to live past 10 years, now I consider them young if they die at 14. I expect cats to live to 20 for the most part. I work at the cheapest vet in town, in a very cheap town. We haven't lost any business and in fact it is growing. We are however treating many more preventable diseases such as parvo, heartworms, GI parasites, tick-borne illnesses than ever. And we've been seeing people delay treatment for sick pets to the point of it becoming MUCH more expensive to treat, but they feel guilty and go ahead anyway. It's not the way I like to see the bottom line increase. I will be more than happy to discuss vaccines in another thread. Or I can refer you to this website. Take special note of the duration of immunity and realize why annual vaccines for FVRCP, distemper, and parvo are stupid. Here is a link that might be useful: Vaccine guidelines
...See More
Is it possible to remove heavy smell?
Q
Comments (15)
Thanks for all the ideas...I think the ozone is out of the question for this. Be easier to just yank it all out..too many pets, kids etc to try and vacate...I doubt it's vapors from the wood products..it's soooooooo perfumy (if that is a word ;)...not chemical smelling at all. More like someone poured perfume on your head and you sat in the sun...I'd rather smell a chemical smell at this point. I think the shellac is an idea if all else fails..even tho it will be another evil chemical to deal with...I think we'll try and paint the insides with either a paint or stain and then seal that...if that doesn't work, guess we remove the cabinet and rebuild or just ace it...I'm for moving but since we just moved here in Aug. and houses are moving down $ wise, we'd loose too much so we're stuck here till real estate corrects...and that doesn't look like it's going to be soon. Thanks again for all the ideas and suggestions! We appreciate it :)
...See More
Is a "high-end" cooktop worth it?
Q
Comments (52)
MizLizzie - Typicaly when local code requires MUA, the requirement is for when there is an exhaust fan with greater than 300 cfms. The determinant of whether you will need more than 300 cfms is somewhat how powerful your cooktop is, but even more, it is what you and your family cook regularly. If you are, for example, a vegetarian family and doing little frying, you can get away with 300 cfms. If on the other hand you are a family that frequently fries bacon, fish, hamburgers, uses a lot of aromatic spices, and/or stir fries, you will need more like 900 cfms. None of this differs if you are cooking these things with gas or induction. You need the appropriate exhaust to pull out cooking odors, smoke and grease from your home, induction or not. If you need high cfms to exhaust the type of cooking you do, and have a tight house, you must have MUA, regardless whether local code requires it or not, and regardless if your cooking source is induction. Many people opt for 300 cfms exhaust to avoid having to deal with MUA, but they will not have the sufficient exhaust power for frying fish, bacon and the like.
...See More
Pet-related flooring question
Q
Comments (25)
Opinions vary on the "gawdawful" vinyl wood planks - obviously some people don't like it or at least don't like the brands and installs they have seen. We have it, we love it - very easy to clean, wears like iron and it actually looks quite real. Yes, we can tell it's not real wood but real wood in addition to not being a good choice for your home also would have cost us 10x more, since I was able to install the vinyl plank myself. It was so inexpensive that some day we could replace it with real hardwood if we get the budget and want to. Around here if you expected anyone to deduct off the price of a home because you didn't like the type of flooring you'd be laughed off the lot. I hate carpet far far more than our vinyl plank floors but we didn't get a price cut because our home was carpeted when we bought it. We just ripped it out and put in the vinyl. But any future buyer who doesn't like it doesn't even have to bother pulling it out and disposing of it, It would be easy to carpet over or lay another floor directly over, so resale is not an issue. It is quite waterproof when installed with tight joints, the vinyl planks squish up against eachother and form a tight seam. We've spilled puddles of water in the kitchen and had stray ice cubes escape the dispenser to melt off in corner and be found later - no damage. To ensure waterproofing in your case, you can apply an adhesive or clear silicone to the edges of the planks as they are installed. I am sorry your kitty is stressed with the situation and I am glad to hear that you are committed to her despite the issues. Since you're certain it is behavioral (and hopefully that means you are feeding exclusively wet food to avoid idiopathic urinary tract disease which is associated with dry foods) Is there any way you can separate the cats in your home? You can also provide retreats - there are cat flaps activated by each cat's microchip number which can be used in interior doors to selectively exclude cats for example from scaredy-cat's litter and/or food area, strategically placed cat towers, getaway routes etc. Litter boxes in every room - that may sound unappealing but they can be disguised inside furniture, and better that there is a litter box in the room than the cat using the floor as the litter box! Also another medication to consider is amitriptyline - usually more effective for cats than prozac, and can be formulated in a transdermal ear cream dispensed in a felt tip pen from Wedgewood Pet Pharmacy, since many cats won't eat these pills in a pill pocket etc and pilling a cat daily doesn't exactly help with the stress situation!
...See More

Aprilaire 800 odor + taking forever

Comment

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US